Cueto's Return Could Key a Cincinnati Postseason Run

The National League Central has been the best division in the National League for the entire season. Milwaukee and Chicago had futile years, yet the other three teams have been powerhouses for the entire year.  Cincinnati Reds have been hanging around like that one Counting Crows song talks about. The Reds have not led the NL Central division since April 22 and they have only spent 10 days on top of the table yet unless all hell breaks loose, they will still be in the playoffs this season. 

Cincinnati bolstered their starting rotation by getting Johnny Cueto back from injury and pitched wonderfully in his first game back with the team in more than two and a half months. The Reds have held their heads above water without Cueto in the last 75 days give or take and now they get Cueto back for the postseason run. Could he become the difference for this team? 

Cueto battled through a variety of injuries throughout the first part of the season, but he did well in his 10 appearances this year.  He has an ERA of 3.02 with a WHIP of 1.08 and 46 strikeouts this season. If we equated that out to 30 starts, Cueto would have 136 strikeouts for the year. While it was an injury-riddled season, Cueto had another productive year for the Reds in a small sample size. He pitched well last night in a win against Houston going five innings, five hits, no runs and five strikeouts with one walk. Houston and his next start against New York are not great indicators of how Cueto will be against high level competition yet it is a great way to ease him back into the rotation. 

It is not like Cincinnati needed Cueto though. In September, the Reds have the third-best starting rotation ERA in the National League.  They really do have a good rotation, and not much is made of it.  Mike Leake is having a solid year. Homer Bailey is having a career year for the Reds. Bronson Arroyo, while he annoys me, is having a pretty decent year for what they ask of him. Tony Cingrani is having some back issues, but he also did a good job filling in for Cueto. The Reds have a formidable rotation and because of their lack of flash, it is sort of going ignored from the mainstream media. 

St. Louis Cardinals are always going to get attention because they are one of the most public teams in Major League Baseball.  People will always give the Cardinals the most attention possible and that's a given. Pittsburgh Pirates are the golden darlings of the National League. Everyone who does not have a horse in the fight will be cheering for the Pirates. Then there are the Reds who just keep winning and they have not done with their ace yet he is coming back for the final couple weeks of the season and the postseason. Oh and the way it sets up, Cueto will pitch the first game of the postseason whether it be the one-game playoff or the postseason.

This is the one unknown about Cueto. He does not really have any postseason experience. He pitched once in 2010, but in no way should we look at that as the indicator for how he will be in the postseason. Last season, he strained a back muscle in the first 10 pitches of his first outing against San Francisco.  Cueto could easily implode in the playoffs and all I have said could have go for naught yet having him back is a major upgrade for the Reds. 

While people look towards St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles even who might be the biggest darling of the postseason, Cincinnati is still there. The Reds might be lurking the postseason woods and coming up big when least expected.

Charlie.